In the Interim
Well, it has been a while hasn’t it? I am still caught between quite a bit of work and unreliable internet. A tough place to be as you can imagine!
So, I figured that instead of leaving the blog bare of content until I sort that out, I have decided instead to start on the series of articles I promised to write on the art, experience and joy of comics.
Part 1
So, first up, before I go into anything more indepth, I’d like to talk about two of my biggest influences as a writer, comic boook creator and appreciator.
The Wizard
So, Alan Moore. Anybody who reads comic books, and in particular, super hero comic books would have heard the name at some point.
His work has inspired movies like From Hell, V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and most recently Watchmen. All of them are but pale shadows of his work. Some only bear a superficial resemblance to the original work.
I guess I first encountered his work on a Batman graphic novel called The Killing Joke. No, that’s not true. I first encountered his work on Swamp Thing. I barely remember the story now, but I do know that it had something to do with menstruation and Swamp Thing manifesting as this plant god thinking it was once a human. I barely remember it and yet it imprinted itself on me. The Killing Joke I would be the first to admit is not really a great example of his strongest stuff, but it does have Batman and The Joker laughing at a joke together.
Then I read Watchmen. The hype for this title you have probably already heard, how it deconstructed superheroes, how it made them more real etc. etc. It did all that for me, and it changed my perception of time. It shifted my paradigm. Now, THAT is good writing. It got into my brain, wrapped its tendrils around some neurons and short circuited them. I won’t say I miss those neurons, they were holding me back.
Years passed and I went overseas to do my A-Levels and study biotechnology in the UK, of course this was a prime opportunity to also collect comic books and I just so happened to start right when Alan Moore was launching his comics with ABC Comics under the aegis of Wildstorm. Tom Strong, Promethea, Top Ten, Tomorrow Stories, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, I ate the stuff up. Stories of interdimensional police officers, psychic porn stars, ascending the sefirot in order to reach enlightenment, subtle erotica, a musical in a comic book, Mina Murray and Alan Quartermain getting together, a world without Sherlock Holmes but with Moriarty, a novella merging Alan Quartermain’s adventures in drug-aided phantasmagoria with that of Wells’ time traveller. It just went on and on and suddenly men in tights beating up thugs on the street and supervillains in the air just wasn’t enough any more.
Neil Gaiman
A friend of mine had quite a few of the Sandman trades when I was in secondary school in the nineties, and although I wasn’t able to read the whole thing, and to be quite honest I am not sure how much of it I appreciated at the time, it did make an impression as well. The artwork and the pacing of the story was completely new to me (and THOSE covers by Dave McKean!), someone who only knew the adventures of Chris Claremont’s X-Men and New Mutants along with some other Marvel heroes.
Seeing all the depictions of hell, various dimensions, gods, demons, angels, spirits, death, desire, despair, destiny, delirium and yes, dream really opened my eyes to the concept and possibilities that comic brought with them. This was a book that had Shakespeare in it! A story that was called Ramadan! Lucifer quit hell in this book!
Anyway, again, this was something that I ended up completely reading once I got to the UK. I didn’t find it easy to lay my hands on all the trades so I got my fix via the libraries around my aunt’s house at the time. Reading The Kindly Ones is definitely my number one Neil Gaiman moment…well, maybe it is tied with ‘The Sound of Her Wings’.
Reading Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore made me believe that not only does a creator have to create stuff and then make sure that stuff’s amazing, but she/he must think about what the message is of their creation. Even if the whole doesn’t have a message, little ones scattered throughout the work adds richness and relevance to it.
Well, there ends Part 1, I am including a link to a comic book artist that I personally find AMAZING. I will explain why when I start Part 2. ‘Amazing comic book artist link -
Well, it has been a while hasn’t it? I am still caught between quite a bit of work and unreliable internet. A tough place to be as you can imagine!
So, I figured that instead of leaving the blog bare of content until I sort that out, I have decided instead to start on the series of articles I promised to write on the art, experience and joy of comics.
PART ONE
So, first up, before I go into anything more indepth, I’d like to talk about two of my biggest influences as a writer, comic boook creator and appreciator.
The Wizard
So, Alan Moore. Anybody who reads comic books, and in particular, super hero comic books would have heard the name at some point.
His work has inspired movies like From Hell, V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and most recently Watchmen. All of them are but pale shadows of his work. Some only bear a superficial resemblance to the original work.
I guess I first encountered his work on a Batman graphic novel called The Killing Joke. No, that’s not true. I first encountered his work on Swamp Thing. I barely remember the story now, but I do know that it had something to do with menstruation and Swamp Thing manifesting as this plant god thinking it was once a human. I barely remember it and yet it imprinted itself on me. The Killing Joke I would be the first to admit is not really a great example of his strongest stuff, but it does have Batman and The Joker laughing at a joke together.
Then I read Watchmen. The hype for this title you have probably already heard, how it deconstructed superheroes, how it made them more real etc. etc. It did all that for me, and it changed my perception of time. It shifted my paradigm. Now, THAT is good writing. It got into my brain, wrapped its tendrils around some neurons and short circuited them. I won’t say I miss those neurons, they were holding me back.
Years passed and I went overseas to do my A-Levels and study biotechnology in the UK, of course this was a prime opportunity to also collect comic books and I just so happened to start right when Alan Moore was launching his comics with ABC Comics under the aegis of Wildstorm. Tom Strong, Promethea, Top Ten, Tomorrow Stories, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, I ate the stuff up. Stories of interdimensional police officers, psychic porn stars, ascending the sefirot in order to reach enlightenment, subtle erotica, a musical in a comic book, Mina Murray and Alan Quartermain getting together, a world without Sherlock Holmes but with Moriarty, a novella merging Alan Quartermain’s adventures in drug-aided phantasmagoria with that of Wells’ time traveller. It just went on and on and suddenly men in tights beating up thugs on the street and supervillains in the air just wasn’t enough any more.
Neil Gaiman
A friend of mine had quite a few of the Sandman trades when I was in secondary school in the nineties, and although I wasn’t able to read the whole thing, and to be quite honest I am not sure how much of it I appreciated at the time, it did make an impression as well. The artwork and the pacing of the story was completely new to me (and THOSE covers by Dave McKean!), someone who only knew the adventures of Chris Claremont’s X-Men and New Mutants along with some other Marvel heroes.
Seeing all the depictions of hell, various dimensions, gods, demons, angels, spirits, death, desire, despair, destiny, delirium and yes, dream really opened my eyes to the concept and possibilities that comic brought with them. This was a book that had Shakespeare in it! A story that was called Ramadan! Lucifer quit hell in this book!
Anyway, again, this was something that I ended up completely reading once I got to the UK. I didn’t find it easy to lay my hands on all the trades so I got my fix via the libraries around my aunt’s house at the time. Reading The Kindly Ones is definitely my number one Neil Gaiman moment…well, maybe it is tied with ‘The Sound of Her Wings’.
Reading Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore made me believe that not only does a creator have to create stuff and then make sure that stuff’s amazing, but she/he must think about what the message is of their creation. Even if the whole doesn’t have a message, little ones scattered throughout the work adds richness and relevance to it.
Well, there ends Part 1, I am including a link to a comic book artist that I personally find AMAZING. I will explain why I do at the beginning of Part 2. ‘Amazing comic book artist linkage – 01 02 03 04 and finally his blog site here.’
.
